The subject of the tea ceremony is well researched both in and outside of Japan, but the women who practice it are hardly ever discussed. The Tea Ceremony and Women's Empowerment in Modern Japan rectifies this by discussing the meaning of the Japanese tea ceremony for women practitioners in Japan from World War II to the present day. It examines how lay tea ceremony practitioners have been transforming this cultural activity while being, in turn, transformed by it. Drawing on Foucault's concept of discipline and focusing primarily on the body, this book illuminates how female tea ceremony practitioners have empowered themselves through a unique way of using their bodies. In particular the book examines: the relationship between the tea ceremony and the body myths surrounding the tea ceremony body discipline postwar effects on the tea ceremony tea ceremony networks meaning of the ceremony in the lives of women. By combining anthropological observation with historical examination of the tea ceremony, this book radically revises mainstream discourses surrounding women and the tea ceremony in Japan. It will prove of equal interest to scholars of Japanese Studies, Gender Studies and Anthropology.

Etsuko Kato is Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the International Christian University, Tokyo.